Sometimes athletics is a simple sport. A bunch of people run round a track and at the end Dina Asher-Smith wins another gold medal. On the final evening of these European Championships, however, the 22-year-old looked desperately up against it with the British team fourth in the 4x100m relay as the baton was thumped into her hand. But then Asher-Smith applied the afterburners and once again the impossible suddenly became a glorious reality.

First she torpedoed past a Swiss vest, then a German one and then she left the Netherlands’ Naomi Sedney for dead, too, before crossing the line in 41.88sec – the fastest time in the world this year.

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It was Asher-Smith’s third gold medal in Berlin and it made her the first Briton to claim the treble at a major championships, although this time she had three accomplices in Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot and Bianca Williams. “I came and won everything I entered so I’m very happy,” Asher-Smith said. “When I got the baton I was like ‘not today, today is our day’ and I’m very happy to finish that off for the girls. I saw people and thought ‘not on my watch’.”

And how appropriate that she made history here, in the Olympiastadion, where Jesse Owens won four gold medals in 1936 and Usain Bolt broke the world 100m record in 2009. After this Asher-Smith’s name surely joins the ledger of legends.

That relay victory, combined with gold medals for Laura Muir in the women’s 1500m and for the men’s 4x100m relay, helped Britain finish on 18 medals – topping the table with seven golds – although Germany ended up with one more medal.

A glorious final evening started in golden fashion for Britain with Muir winning the first outdoor gold of her career after striking for home from a long way out. The 25-year-old was a huge favourite for the title with good reason: she held a five-second personal best over the field. Even so, it was a surprise to see her attack after only 500m, gradually extending her lead to win in 4:02.32sec. Sofia Ennaoui of Poland was second in 4:03.08, with Britain’s Laura Weightman – who had earlier attempted to chase down Muir – holding on for bronze. “I knew a lot of the girls have a good finish, so I thought the longer I leave it the riskier it would be,” Muir said.

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It means she becomes the first British woman to win European 1500m gold – even Kelly Holmes got only silver – although Muir realised it only when her coach told her. And she believes it bodes well for the future. “This was probably the most pressure I have been under but I have shown I can deliver at the top level,” she said.

Another British gold followed in the final event of a raucous night as CJ Ujah, Zharnel Hughes, Adam Gemili and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey took the men’s 4x100m relay gold comfortably in 37.80sec.

Aikines-Aryeetey had to step in at the last minute after Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake picked up a niggle in the heats but Britain’s advantage was large enough that victory was assured when he received the baton on the anchor leg. The fast finishing Turkey team took silver, with the Netherlands claiming bronze.

Elsewhere Eilish McColgan took a superb silver in a chaotic women’s 5,000m after the Israeli athlete Lonah Chemtai Salpeter stopped a lap early while in second. By the time Salpeter had realised her error she had been overtaken by McColgan and Turkey’s Yasemin Can. While the pair slugged it out for second, the Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan raced clear to take gold in 14:46.12 – a championship record. Salpeter’s night did not get any better: she was later disqualified for stepping out of her lane.

This has been a championship where youngsters have smashed into the mainstream and another star was confirmed in the men’s pole vault as Armand Duplantis, an 18-year-old from Sweden, took gold after a massive clearance of 6.05m. In an electric competition Duplantis first soared over six metres and then 6.05m for his first senior title. The Russian Timur Morgunov also cleared six metres for silver, while the former Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie cleared 5.95m to take bronze.

The German crowd, who particularly enjoy field events, lapped up the battle, just as they had done all week. As Lavillenie told them at the finale: “This has been one of the best competitions ever, and for sure we want to come back.”

Certainly this will go down as a vibrant and hugely successful European Championships, with the Olympiastadion attracting 40,000 to 60,000 fans every night.

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Those spectators were rewarded with 19 home medals and several breakthrough performances, including from the 17-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway, who became the first athlete to win the European 1500m and 5,000m double. But, for British eyes, this competition will be remembered most for Asher-Smith’s sustained brilliance. She has hit the highest notes throughout. Next year, surely, she will go global.